A series of shirt cuff assemblies

ABSTRACT

A shirt sleeve cuff making method and apparatus wherein a continuous length of cuff lining material is passed through tandem sewing heads, and pairs of cuff panels are placed upon the lining material and are sewn along their aligned edges to one edge of the lining material by one sewing head and the overlying edge of the lower cuff panel of each pair is folded downwardly about the opposite edge of the lining material and sewn thereto by the other sewing head. The continuous lining material with the cuff panels sewn thereto are then passed to a second sewing station where the lining material is cut between the pairs of cuff panels and the edges of the cuff panels adjacent the cut in the lining material are sewn to the lining material.

United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,808,605 Campbell [451 May 7, 1974 [54]A SERIES OF SHIRT CUFF ASSEMBLIES 3,476,003 1 1/1969 Adams l 12/ 130 X[76] lnventor: Richard D. Campbell, 135 Yaupon Ter., PO. Box 296,Morehead City, NC. 28557 [22] Filed: 1 June 6, 1972 [21] Appl. No.:260,210

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 69,526, Sept. 4,1970, Pat No.

[52] US. Cl. 2/123 [51] Int. Cl A41b 7/00 [58] Field of Search 2/123,124, 274, 275, 143, 2/129;112/262,130,104,10,l21.12, 121.11, 121.15,121.29, 2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 394,592 12/1888 Morrison2/124 2,020,070 11/1935 Liebowitz 2/123 X 3,401,655 9/1968 Johnson etal'.... 112/130 X 3,710,742 1/1973 Chercass ll2/l2l.27

Primary Examiner-James R. Boler Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Jones, Thomas &Askew [5 7] ABSTRACT A shirt sleeve cuff making method and apparatuswherein a continuous length of cuff lining material is passed throughtandem sewing heads, and pairs of cuff panels are placed upon the liningmaterial and are sewn along their aligned edges to one edge of thelining material by one sewing head and the overlying edge of the lowercuff panel of each pair is folded downwardly about the opposite edge ofthe lining material and sewn thereto by the other sewing head. Thecontinuous lining material with the cuff panels sewn thereto are thenpassed to a second sewing station where the lining material is cutbetween the pairs of cuff panels and the edges of the cuff panelsadjacent the cut in the lining material are sewn to the lining material.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIH] MAY 7 I974 SHEET 1 OF 3 PATENTED AYU974 SHEET 3. BF 3 1 A SERIES O SHIRT CUFF ASSEMBLIES CROSS REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of application Ser.No. 69,526, filed Sept. 4, 1970, now US. Pat. No. 3,670,679.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the past, the process of making shirtsleeve cuffs has required a plurality of alignment and sewing functionsthat are onerous for the machine operators to perform, and the assemblyof cuffs has been difficult to control because of the multiple number ofplys of outer material and inner lining required to form a cuff andbecause the panels of material are relatively small and can be easilymisplaced. For example, a typical cuff making process required both theouter cuff panels and inner lining material to be cut in the cuttingroom as by die cutting or clicking, and the outer panels and linerpanels were tagged in the cutting room and then transferred to thesewing stations in the sewing room. At the first sewing station anoperator aligned an inner liner panel with a first cuff panel, foldedthe overlying edge of the cuff panel over an edge of the liner panel,and sewed through the fold to form: a hem in the cuff panel about theedge of the liner panel. The plurality of partially completed cuffsformed in this manner were connected together by a chain stitch andaccumulated at the first sewing station. After a batch of partiallycompleted cuffs had been passed through the first sewing station thebatch was transferred to a second sewing station where the second cuffpanel was aligned in overlying relationship with the first cuff paneland folded about the hem of the first cuff panel, and the operator thenstitched about an end of the fold and around the unstitched edges of theinner liner and cuff panels and over the other end' of the fold tocomplete the cuff. The cuffs were again connected together by chainstitching as they left the second sewing station and when the batch ofcuffs had been passed through the second sewing station they weretransferred to a processing station where the cuffs are inverted,pressed, separated and stacked.

The procedure required not, only the cuff panels, but the liner to becut to shape in the cutting room so that a substantial amount of linermaterial as well as cuff panel material was wasted. Also, the slowprocess of aligning the edges of cuff panels and liner panels wasrequired at both the first and second sewing stations, and carefulcontrol had to be maintained over both batches of cuff panels at thefirst and second sewing stations so that there was a substantiallikelihood of one or both operators incorrectly matching cuff panels ina cuff structure from different plys of material and forming cuffstructures having mismatched colors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, the present inventioncomprises a shirt sleeve cuff making method and apparatus which does notrequire the spreading and cutting of the cuff inner lining material inthe cutting room and which requires only one operator to align the cuffpanels and lining material. The lining material is received at the firstsewing station in the process in the form of a continuous roll or lengthoflining material, and the lining material is fed through a pair ofspaced tandem sewing machines which are arranged to sew along theopposite edges of the lining material. The pairs of cuff panels arestacked along the lining material with one edge of each cuff panelaligned with an edge of the lining material and. the opposite edge ofeach cuff panel overlying the opposite edge of the lining material, andthe aligned edges are passed through the first sewing machine which sewsthe cuff panels and lining material together. The lower cuff panel ofeach pair is then folded about the opposite edge of the lining materialand the upper cuff panel is moved away from the lower cuff panel as thesecond sewing machine functions to sew a hem in the lower cuff panel.The partially completed cuffs are maintained on the continuous length oflining material and passed to a second sewing station, where thecontinuous length of lining material is cut between the cuff panels andthe ends of adjacent cuff panels along the lining material are sewn tothe lining material. If a rounded cuff structure is desired, thecontinuous series of partially completed cuffs are die cut or clicked atthe second sewing station to form the rounded edges.

Thus, it is anobject of this invention to provide a shirt sleeve cuffmaking method and apparatus which reduces the time and labor required toform cuffs.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatusfor making shirt sleeve cuffs in a reliable manner and which makes cuffsat a high rate of speed and with a minimum of waste material.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent upon reading the following specification when taken intoconjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a progressive schematicillustration of the process performed at the first sewing station in thecuff making process.

FIG. 2 is a progressive schematic illustration of the process performedat the second sewing station in the cuff making process.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cuff making apparatus at the firstsewing station.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cuff making apparatus at the secondsewing station.

FIG. 5 is an expanded perspective view of the presser foot and throatplate assembly at the second sewing station.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now in more detail tothe drawing, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout theseveral views, FIG. 1 shows a roll or supply 10 of cuff lining materialwhich is fed along a predetermined path toward take-up roll 11. Thestacks l2 and 13 of precut shirt sleeve cuff panels are maintained alongthe path of generally continuous lining material 9 extending betweenrolls l0 and l l, and the top cuff panel from stack 12 is placed overthe path of the continuous lining material as indicated at 12a and thetop cuff panel from the stack 13 is stacked upon or placed on top ofcuff panel 12a as indicated at 130. Cuff panels 12a and 13a are thenmoved toward sewing machine 15 along the path of the continuous liningmaterial with one of their edges aligned with a first edge 17 of thelining material and the sewing machine functions to sew along thealigned edges of the cuff panels and continuous length of liningmaterial, as indicated by cuff panels 12b and 13b.

A light source 16 is positioned above the path of the continuous liningmaterial, and a photocell 18 is positioned on the opposite side of thepath at the edge of the lining material, so that the gaps betweenadjacent pairs of cufi panels are detected and the drive mechanism ofthe sewing machine is disabled and the operation of sewing machine isterminated after each sewing operation. Of course, when a subsequentpair of cuff panels are placed upon the continuous lining material thelight to photocell 18 will be blocked and the sewing machine will beable to function again.

As cuff panels 12b and 13b move away from sewing machine 15, theoverlying opposite or free edge of the lower cuff panel 12b is foldedabout second edge 19 of the lining material, the overlying opposite orfree edge of upper cuff panel is lifted away from the lower cuff panel,and second sewing machine 20 sews along the second edge 19 of the liningmaterial through the fold of the lower cuff panel, as indicated at 12cand 130, to form a hem 21 with stitching 22. The free edge of upper cuffpanel 13c is then allowed to fall back on the lower cuff panel asindicated at 12d and 13d, and the partially completed cuff structuresare then rolled onto take-up roll 11.

As is indicated in H6. 2, the take-up roll or roll of partiallycompleted cuff structures 11 arethen transferred to a second sewingstation where the continuous series of cuff structures is fed from theroll 11 to a sewing machine having a pair of laterally spaced apartsewing needles 25 and 26 and a cutting mechanism 28. The free edge 27 ofthe upper cuff panel (now on the bottom) is folded over the hem 21 oflower cuff panel 12 and adjacent ones of the partially completed cuffstructures are processed through the sewing machine and cutter mechanism28 in a manner that causes the cutter mechanism 28 to cut the liningmaterial between adjacent ones of the cuff structures and the needles 25and 26 to tack the ends of the fold of the upper cuff panel 13 to thecuff structure and to sew along the ends of adjacent ones of the cuffpanels at the cut being made in the lining material. The result of thisfunction is that a completed cuff structure is formed which hasstitching formed about its raw edges, a hem formed in the lower cuffpanel and an overlapping open hem formed in the upper cuff panel. Thecuff structures are placed in the stack 30 where they are available fordelivery to a cuff inverting and pressing station (not shown).

If the edges of the cuff structures are to be rounded to form a roundededge cuff, the edge of the lining material and the corners of the cuffpanels are die cut or clicked by cutting blade 31 prior to the movementof the cuff structures to needles 25 and 26 and cutter mechanism 28. Asthe needles 25 and 26 of the sewing machine approach the'rounded cornersof the cuffs, the operator twists or rotates the cuff structures tocause the stitching to be formed in a curve around the curved corners.

As is illustrated in FIG. 3, the first sewing station comprises a worktable 32 upon which first and second sewing machines 34 and 35 aremounted. Lining material guide means 36 extends along work table 32 andincludes a guide tray 38 having a bottom wall 39 and upwardly extendingside walls 40 and 41. Guide flange 42 is positioned inwardly of sidewall 41 and extends along the length of guide tray 38. The length oflining material 9 is fed through guide tray 38 between guide flange 42and side wall 40.

Loading tray 44 is positioned generally within the confines of guidetray 38 and is generally flat except for upwardly extending wall 45.Loading tray 44 includes an aperture 46 at its end adjacent supply roll10 and positioningpin 48 extends upwardly from work table 32 through theaperture to properly locate loading tray 44 in guide tray 38. Spacer 49surrounds positioning pin 48 beneath loading tray 44 and maintains theloading tray in spaced relationship above bottom wall 39 of guide tray38. Also, support feet 50 are located in alignment with side wall 40 ofguide tray 38 at spaced intervals as necessary to support the rearportion of the loading tray 44 and the portion of loading tray 44adjacent sewing machine 34 rests upon guide flange 39 so that theloading tray 44 is spaced from the bottom wall 39 of guide tray 38 andprovides a space for the path of the continuous lining material 9.

The forward end of loading tray 44 adjacent sewing machine 34 includes aslot or cut out 51 leaving an extension 52 that is bent in a slightlydownward direction toward bottom wall 39 of guide tray 38 to form aslide. A second slot 54 is defined in the edge of loading tray 44, and aphotoelectric cell 18 (not shown in FIG. 3) is positioned below worktable .32 beneath slot 54, so that loading tray 44 does not block thephotocell.

Folding housing 55 includes an upper wall or folding tray 56 whichoverlaps the end of loading tray 44. The side wall 58 of folding housing55 is curved inwardly at 59 to form a folding curvature so that the sidewall 58 terminates at a point ahead of and slightly to the side of thepresser foot of second sewing machine 35.

Lifting tine 60 extends in a curved and upwardly inclined direction fromthe surface of folding tray 56 toward second sewing machine 35. Air tube61 communicates with a source of air under pressure (not shown) andprojects from beneath work table 32 up onto the upper surface of foldingtray 56, then is turned generally toward the curve 59 in side wall 58 offolding housing 55 and enters the folding housing so that a stream ofair is directed generally toward curve 59 within folding housing 55.

Sewing machine 34 is arranged to stitch along first edge 17 of thecontinuous lining material 9 at the end of slide 52 and second sewingmachine 35 is arranged to sew along the second edge 19 of the liningmaterial at the end of folding housing 55. Sewing machines 34 and 35 aredriven from a common power source (not shown) and the operation of thetwo machines is coordinated or maintained in timed relationship bytiming belt 64 so that each machine takes a stitch simultaneously andfeeds simultaneously. The power source also functions to rotate take-uproll 11 through a pulley connection 65 and a sliding clutch (not shown).The arrangement is such that tension is maintained in the liningmaterial from second sewing machine 35 to pickup roll 11 during theoperation of the sewing machines.

The machine operator at the first sewing station will normally place onestack of cuff panels 12 on loading tray 44 in abutment with the uprightwall 45 and the other stack of cuff panels 13 on work table 32 in aconvenient location. Loading tray 44 and folding tray 56 form a loadingor working surface over the path of continuous lining material 9adjacent first sewing machine 34, and the machine operator retrieves thetop ply or cuff panel from the stack. 12 and places it on loading tray44 and'slides it beneath folding tray 56 toward the needle of sewingmachine 34, with an edge of the cuff panel adjacent the side wall 40 ofguide tray 38. The operator then retrieves the top ply from the stack ofcuff panels 13 and places it on top of the first or lower cuff panel andalignes its edge with the edge of the lower cuff panel at sidewall 40and aligns the forward and trailing edges with the forward and trailingedges of the lower and cuff panel. The second cuff panel from stack 13will have approximately one half its length resting upon folding tray56, so that the bottom and top cuff panels are maintained separate fromeach other at their overlying free edges along second edge 19 of thelength of lining material. The operator then slides both of the cuffpanels further toward sewing machine 34 until the cuff panels blocklight opening 57 in folding tray 56 whereupon sewing machine 34 and 35are armed and can be actuated with the conventional foot pedal (notshown) by the operator.

As the shirt cuff panels move toward sewing machine 34, the edgesthereof adjacent sidewall of guide tray 38 will move down slide 52 ofthe loading tray 44 toward the needle of sewing machine 34. The operatorcan press with her fingers against the cuff panels in the vicinity ofslot 51 of loading tray 44, so that when the operator presses her footpedal to energize sewing machines 34 and 35, and the sewing machinefunctions to feed lining material 9 along its path through guide means36 the shirt cuff panels will tend to move with As the top and bottomshirt cuff panels move through sewing machine 34, they are sewn alongtheir edges at the first edge 17 of lining material 9, and the bottomshirt cuff panel progresses through folding housing 55, whereupon theoverlying free edge of the bottom cuff panel is folded about the secondedge 19 of the lining material bythe folding curve 59 of housing and bythe flow of air through air tube 61. In the meantime, lifting tine 60will cause the free edge of the upper cuff panel to be lifted away fromthe needle of second sewing machine 35 so that the second sewing machinefunctions to sew through the folded edgeof the bottom cuff panel andform a hem therein while the overlying edge of the upper .cuff panelremains free. After the upper cuff panel passes by the needle of secondsewing machine 35 it is allowed to fall back into its overlyingrelationship with the bottom cuff panel, and the series of partiallycompleted shirt cuffs is retrieved by take-up roll 11.

As is illustrated in FIG. 4 the series of partially completed shirt cuffpanels is mounted on a rotatable spindle 66 of work table 68 at thesecond sewing station. Sewing machine 69 is supported by work table 68and comprises a pair of laterally spaced apart needles 25 and 26 movablethrough needle holes 70 and 71 defined in presser foot 72. As isillustrated in FIG. 5, presser foot 72 includes foot plate 74 having anupwardly inclined flange 75 to guide the material beneath the presserfoot and the foot plate 74 is hingedly supported by boss or shank 76which is connected to support tabs 78 by means of pivot pins 79. A slot80 is formed in the rear of foot plate 74 beneath shank 76, and threadcutting blades 81 and 82 are positioned on opposite sides of foot plate74 beside slot 80. Thread holder 84 is positioned below thread cutter82.

j the lining material and be sewn by sewing machine 34.

Throat plate 85 is positioned below presser foot 72 and is ofconventional construction except for slot 86 which extends back from theopening 88 for a tread of feed dog 89. Tread 90 is foreshortened toeffectively lengthen slot 86.

Cutter mechanism 28 includes stationary blade 91 that fits into slot 86of throat plate 85 and oscillating blade 92 that is movable in the spaceof slot 80 beneath shank 76 of presser foot 72. Thus, cutting mechanism28 is moved up into the space between throat plate 85 and presser foot72 and functions to form a cut in the material immediately after it hasbeen sewn by needles 25 and 26.

As is illustrated in FIG. 4, a die cutter or clicker 31 is supportedfrom work table 68 and faces sewing machine 69. Clicker 31 includes arounded V-shaped cutting block 95 that is movable into platen 96 with aguillotine action under the influence of pneumatic ram 98. When theoperator presses a pedal (not shown), pneumatic ram 98 functions to movecutting block.95 in a downward direction toward platen 96 and when thecutting block has been received in the opening of the platen, cam 94that moves with cutting block 95 actuates bleed valve 99, causing ram 98to lift the cutting block. Thus, cutting block 95 cuts with a plungingmotion and is normally maintained in its retracted position.

The operator at the second sewing station retrieves the free end of thecontinuous series of partially completed cuffs from spindle 66 andplaces the cuff structures in an inverted position with the spacebetween adjacent cuffs in alignment with cutter mechanism 28. Theoperator folds the free ends of the top cuff panels (now on the bottom)of adjacent pairs of cuff structures over the hems in the bottom cuffpanels, and then starts the sewing and cutting function. As the operatorfeeds the cuff structures through sewing machine 69, needles 25 and 26sew the ends of the folded portions of the upper cuff panels and thenform stitching along the adjacent edges of the pairs of cuff panels.Cutting mechanism 28 operates simultaneously with sewing machine 69 andfunctions to cut the continuous lining material between adjacent cuffstructures. When both ends of a cuff structure have passed through thesewing machine in this manner, stitching will be formed along the rawedges of the cuff structures, the bottom (now inner) cuff panel willhave a hem stitched to the lining material, and the upper (now outer)cuff panel will have an open hem tacked at its ends to the liner aboutthe hem of the inner cuff panel. The cuff structures are now completeand will be placed in a stack 30 where they will be subsequentlyretrieved and moved to a cuff inverting and pressing station (notshown).

If it is desirable to form cuffs with rounded corners, clicker 31 willbe utilized by the operator to form the rounded slots in the continuouslining material and to round off the square edges of the cuff panels.When the machine operator sews across the cuff structures, she willtwist the cuff structures as their rounded edges approach needles 25 and26, to sew along the rounded edges.

While this invention has been described in detail with particularreference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood thatvariations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scopeof the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in theappended claims.

along the edge opposite to its said first edge to said lining materialalong the other edge of said lining material.

2. The series of shirt cuff assemblies of claim 1 and wherein said shirtcuff panels are wider than said lining material, and wherein said oneshirt cuff panel of each pair of shirt cuff panels is folded about saidother edge of said lining material.

1. A series of shirt cuff assemblies comprising a generally continuouslength of lining material, a plurality of stacked pairs of shirt cuffpanels positioned along the length of said lining material, meansattaching said shirt cuff panels of each pair of shirt cuff panels alonga first edge of said shirt cuff panels to said lining material along oneedge of the lining material and means attaching one shirt cuff panel ofeach pair of shirt cuff panels along the edge opposite to its said firstedge to said lining material along the other edge of said liningmaterial.
 2. The series of shirt cuff assemblies of claim 1 and whereinsaid shirt cuff panels are wider than said lining material, and whereinsaid one shirt cuff panel of each pair of shirt cuff panels is foldedabout said other edge of said lining material.